Tsolikouri

Tsolikouri is the principal white variety of western Georgia and belongs to the Imeretian group; it is also grown in Racha-Lechkhumi, Guria, Samegrelo, Adjara and Abkhazia, and ranks second in area in Georgia after Rkatsiteli. Thick-skinned and late-ripening, it copes well with the humid western climate. It is made dry — in the European way or the Imeretian way, in qvevri with part of the skins — and naturally semi-sweet: it is the sole grape of the Tvishi PDO in Lechkhumi and is blended with Tsitska for Sviri.